


The Beach Episode

by hisloss



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Day At The Beach, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:17:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2138406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisloss/pseuds/hisloss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Actually being on The Beach was anticlimactic, if Roxas was being honest with himself. On either side of him, Hayner and Sora were really trying to seem enthusiastic about it, mostly for his benefit, he could tell, but it wasn't quite working. Every summer since they were sixteen they'd worked shit jobs trying to save up for the trip, and this year they finally decided that they'd saved enough.</p><p>***</p><p>Sitting on The Beach, Roxas hands Axel a coke with "Soulmate" written on it. It was an accident. Sort of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beach Episode

**Author's Note:**

> This is late. I have no excuse. Happy Belated Axel/Roxas Day!

Actually being on The Beach was anticlimactic, if Roxas was being honest with himself. On either side of him, Hayner and Sora were really trying to seem enthusiastic about it, mostly for his benefit, he could _tell_ , but it wasn't quite working. Every summer since they were sixteen they'd worked shit jobs trying to save up for the trip, and this year they finally decided that they'd saved enough. Plus, after Olette had her 20th Birthday, they all realized that they weren't teenagers anymore. It was almost cathartic, dumping the last jar full of coins into the Change*Star at the grocery. They were in college, still working shit jobs, paying almost more than they could afford for rent and eating mainly rice. They deserved the long dreamt of trip to The Beach.

  
Of course, in the five summers they'd been saving, more people had invested in the dream. At first it was only Roxas and Hayner. Then Pence because he knew how to work a spreadsheet and calculated exactly how much each of them would have to save before they could buy train tickets and afford food and rentals for all the choice stuff The Beach had to offer. Then Sora because _twins don't just leave each other out of each other's plans, Roxas_. Then Riku. And then the girls demanded to be allowed in. (Roxas and Hayner tried to get them to lose interest, but when they both dropped a sizeable deposit in the jar they couldn't be ignored.) Finally Larxene and Axel. (Mainly because they were older and a trip to The Beach with older, "responsible" friends was the way to get your parents off your back about the whole thing.)

  
Even with so many people contributing, Roxas wasn't surprised that they managed to wait until the last minute. They looked ridiculous on the train, of course. Carrying the mini cooler and the towels and the stupid inflatable swan Sora loved. Plus, Riku, Pence, and Axel each had a tent strapped to their back. The girls pretended not to know them.  
When they actually hit The Beach, Riku rented three umbrellas and put them up. They had a license for a bonfire once it neared sunset, and space at the campground on the eastern side. It was the middle of August and a Wednesday, but ultimately it was worth it. Roxas felt his anxiety start to dissipate.

  
"Why did we come in the middle of the week?" Sora whined.

  
"You, Pence and Olette couldn't get a weekend off," Axel explained, the we did this for you heavily implied.

  
"There are no hot people for me to gaze at," Sora complained, frowning at the mostly empty shore.

  
Everyone but Riku exchanged withering glances, so fed up with this shit.

  
"It's still early," Hayner finally retorted, "And Riku's less than 3 feet away from you. Stare at his ass." Riku looked mortified and went off to sulk.

  
"Hey, Rox, pass me a drink?" Axel held out his hand, palm up. Axel had beautiful hands. His palms had small, perfectly placed callouses from volunteer firefighter work. His fingers were long and slightly tapered. Roxas loved them. He was pretty sure he loved Axel, too. He reached into the very bottom of the cooler and pressed a coke into Axel's hand. Axel's fingers curled up a little to grasp the can and just barely brushed Roxas's.

  
"Um. I'm gonna... go to the bathroom," he said, darting away from the shade of the umbrellas.

* * *

  
Axel was the only friend Roxas had made on his own. Hayner was his best friend, but that only happened because Hayner's mom was his third grade teacher and made them sit together because she hoped that Roxas's quiet nature would get Hayner to calm down. When it looked like it was working, she made sure to pair them together for assignments, sports, and everything else. Eventually Roxas started talking in whole sentences and Hayner could stay in his seat without being asked.  
Day one of freshman year, Roxas had a completely different schedule from Sora, Hayner, or Riku (with whom he was only friends by association with his twin) and he was lost. In a moment of desperation and with less than five minutes until the bell rang, he walked up to the first person that made eye contact with him and introduced himself. Axel, despite being a senior, wasn't as scary as he looked. He flicked his barely lit cigarette over the fence and escorted Roxas to 3rd period Algebra. 

Every day. 

For the rest of the year.

Axel was the only person besides Sora and his mom that Roxas was comfortable actually holding eye contact with. With others he could only lock on for a few seconds before he had to focus on something else. With Axel, he sometimes felt as though he were living in one of those long Korean drama heartbeats of time.  
His hand still felt cold from the soda can almost an hour later when he found himself aimlessly wandering through a souvenir shop.

* * *

Riku found him first.

"How sure are you that your brother is bisexual?" he asked without preamble, picking up a garishly colored mug with seashell designs on it.

Roxas snorted. "Pretty sure."

"I'm seriously considering confessing my undying love for him at the bonfire tonight. I need something a little more concrete than 'pretty sure'," Riku muttered, putting the mug back and unfolding a t-shirt that Roxas knew for a fact Sora would put on immediately if it were given to him.

" _Really_ pretty sure," he fired back smugly. There was still a layer of hate to their relationship. "And fucking _finally_. Buy him that shirt."

* * *

  
Olette, Kairi, and Hayner found him the second he stepped foot outside the next shop he found himself wandering around in.

"Oh my God Roxas _are you okay_?" Olette demanded in a whisper.

"...um, yeah?" he hedged.

"Axel is freaking out," Hayner spoke up.

"Why?"

All three of them stared for a long moment. Finally, Kair gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Roxas, did you know that Coca-cola started this new advertising campaign on their products? They're putting people's names on the cans and bottles of their soda now."

"I've seen the commercials," Roxas said, confused. "What does that have to do with...?"

"The cans you and Sora brought," Kairi interjected. "The packs of cans don't have names, not exactly. Some have 'Friend' on them. Or things like 'Legend'. 'Star'."

"Soulmate," Olette added.

Roxas choked on his own spit, his brain processing faster than the rest of his body could react. "What."

"You gave Axel a can of soda that said 'Soulmate', then ran off. He thinks you asked him out and are too embarrassed to own to it," Hayner supplied.

"What."

"I thought it might have been a misunderstanding," Kairi said softly, "but when you gave it to him, you guys were doing that thing."

"Thing?" 

Olette blushed. "You don't look at anyone the way you look at Axel. It's like that moment when romantic music swells in a movie."

Roxas blushed, too. "It's not like that."

"Yet," Hayner finished. Roxas scowled at him. It was one thing to know that everyone but Sora knew about Riku being gone on him, but this Roxas couldn't handle. If he was being honest with himself, like, really fucking honest, he wasn't sure what he felt for Axel. There were brief moments where he thought he loved Axel as more than a friend. He knew consciously that he was attracted to him. These were things he only wrote about in his journal to make sense of them. He didn't like the way Hayner said 'yet', as though Roxas had a responsibility for Axel's feelings.

Holy _shit_.

Axel had feelings for him.

"What did he say, exactly?" he asked.

"That he'd been waiting for you to make the first move," Kairi smiled.

Axel had _feelings_ for him.

A very small part of Roxas was instantly warmed by the thought of Axel waiting patiently for a sign - even one as simple as a word on a soda can - when it must have been so hard to keep himself from showing his hand. 

* * *

 

He wasn't exactly sure how he got back to their umbrella haven. 

Sora was nowhere in sight, and neither was Larxene, but Kairi and Olette seemed to know exactly where she was because they abandoned Roxas as soon as they could. Pence was flat on his back, almost asleep. Hayner shoved Roxas in Axel's general direction and excused himself to "find Religion", whatever that meant.

Roxas practically dove headfirst into his bag, pulling out a book and quickly ripped it open to the bookmark. Axel raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing. The coke can sat, empty, beside Axel's shoes. 

"I was thinking of going for a walk before we look for dinner. Wanna come?" 

Pence gave a very unconvincing snore.

"I wanted to swim with Sora," Roxas answered, trying to look like he was enjoying the book.

* * *

 

Sora's inflatable swan, standing guard over a sandcastle, marked the spot near where he was swimming.

"Can we not talk about how I might have asked Axel to be my soulmate?" Roxas said.

They played in the waves for a few hours, celebrating The Beach.

"Did you ever think we'd actually be here?" Sora mused as they redid the sand castle.

"We live like, 3 hours away. I figured we'd get here eventually," Roxas smiled.

"I used to think it would be so great," Sora sighed.

"It's still pretty great," Roxas offered.

Sora shook his head. "I'm not saying I hate it and I wish we hadn't come. It's just... when you're younger a place like this has a certain allure. It's like you going on this really amazing journey." He laughed. "I wanted to build a raft when we got here. I felt like this place was a gateway drug. We'd get here, and..."

"There would be doors opening. More adventure," Roxas agreed.

"I don't think I was wrong," Sora said after a long time. "It's just that the more adventure is actually metaphorical. This is our first trip without our parents. We saved up for it and went for it. We've grown up."

They let some kids destroy the sand castle and dragged the swan back to the umbrellas, where Riku had just brought back Pad Thai for everyone and Axel and Larxene were digging a fire pit, closely following the guidelines printed on the back of the temporary license. Roxas ate silently. On the way back to their spot, he and Sora found some beautiful seashells to take home to mom. They were all so smooth, polished by the sand and the pull of the waves. "That's life," Sora laughed, pocketing the nicest ones. "It beats you up a bit, but it's always keeping you in motion, pushing and pulling. In the end it makes us better."

Before Axel could ask him to go on a walk again, Roxas retreated again, claiming to know where Hayner was and that he'd bring him back before the bonfire was lit.

* * *

 

He decided on the smoothie shack at the end of the pier and walked straight for it, completely blindsided by a petite figure dressed head to toe in white. They collided and sent papers flying. Roxas picked one up. It was a crude drawing, like something a kid would do. The other person helped themselves off, straightenign a floppy white hat and shaking out a white jumper and a long white coverup/shawl. Even the rims of her sunglasses where white.

"Hey, aren't you..." Roxas struggled to remember the name. "...Naminé?"

"Are you going to tell me what a washed out hasbeen I am?" she drawled.

"...I was just..." 

"I don't give free autographs," she snapped, bending over to pick up more of the papers. 

"You're shorter in person."

"Fuck you. I'm average height," she huffed, snatching the one paper he still held away from him, standing up as straight as she could in the platform sandals.

"Sorry."

"You're buying me a smoothie," she announced, walking around him to the shack. Dumbly, he followed. The guy making their drinks seemed unfazed by her and Roxas couldn't tell if she was pleased abotu that or not. At any rate, she handed waited until he paid and had a drink in each hand before leading him to a sectioned off part of the beach. Only three other people were there, but if they were famous Roxas didn't recognize them. Naminé's beach things were all white, as well. The lounge chair, the towels, the umbrella. She fell into the chair and absentmindedly patted the towels beside her in a bizarre invitation for him to sit. "So, Roxas, tell me the most interesting thing that's happened to you lately."

Roxas took a cautious sip of his mango smoothie.

"Besides meeting me," Naminé added, and Roxas could literally hear her rolling her eyes as she sipped her own smoothie.

"The guy I might be in love with thinks we're soulmates," he offered. She made a disgusted face.

"Ugh. Banana. Trade." She didn't wait for his approval before switching their cups. 'Alright, why does it sound like you think this is a problem?"

"Emphasis on the might be in love with," Roxas defended.

She took an obnoxiously loud sip of Roxas's mango smoothie. "No such thing," she said with more conviction than Roxas thought she was capable. "I don't know shit about a lot of things. But I know this: running away from confrontation will only hurt you. No matter what happens, you need some kind of closure."

They sat in relative silence after that, despite all the questions Roxas wanted to ask. He drank his smoothie and tried to look as though he was used to running into celebrities and befriending them.

"I should go," he said. It was nearing sunset, and there was somewhere he needed to be.

"Here," she handed him a piece of paper. He recognized himself in her artwork. "My number is on the back," she said breezily. "For fuckssake call me. I don't have any _real_ friends."

* * *

Roxas took a picture of the view and sent it to Axel, knowing nothing else was needed. They'd perfected the system when he started coming home from college on break. Usually it was harder to figure out where Roxas was, but now he was sure that the sunset would make it too easy to find his spot. He could feel the anxiety building up in his throat, blocking out what he wanted to say. Something like eight minutes passed before he saw Axel approaching.  
  
"We need to talk," Roxas said first. He hated the way it sounded coming out of his mouth.  
  
"I know what Kairi told you, and I'm over it," Axel assured him. "I'd love it if it were true, but I know I was only getting my hopes up." An unspoken _let's forget about it_ hung in the air.

Roxas steeled himself to break his heart. "I don't believe in soulmates," he said finally. Axel's shoulders, tense in his windbreaker, dropped. He nodded, looking away.

"I know. It's okay." He took half a step back.

"I believe in this," Roxas willed the words to be loud enough.

"This?"

"You. Me." He shrugged. "You and Hayner are my best friends, but I definitely don't think about you the same way I think about him."

Axel lifted his head, the sunset setting his eyes on fire."How do you think of me?"

Roxas blushed, his hands unsteady at his sides. "I'm still working on it," he confessed. "I'm getting better at recognizing my own emotions, but something as complex as this..." 

Axel stepped toward him. "How do you think of me compared to anyone else?"

Roxas felt his heart speed up just thinking what he said next. "I want to sleep with you." Axel's eyebrows shot upward, but he didn't say anything, so Roxas took a deep breath. "I want to fall asleep with you and wake up next to you. I want us to talk about what we dreamt and decide if it meant anything or if it was just something we ate. I want... touching. I want the kind of intimacy we have as friends to translate to skin." For a long time, neither of them spoke. Then, Axel laughed softly and said, "I'm pretty sure that's what a soulmate is." Roxas understood what he meant. It wasn't all destiny and past lives that made the word real. Axel bent over carefully, caressing his face with his beautiful hands and kissed him just as the sea swallowed the sun.

* * *

 

The next morning they woke up tangled loosely. Axel's shoulder pillowed Roxas's head. They decided that Roxas's dream had definitely been the result of too many s'mores and kissed deeply before pulling each other close and whisper planning pranks they could play on anyone still asleep. Hayner had come back late, having found Religion - an underground craft bazaar, apparently - bearing a gift for them. The hinged wooden box had the Soulmate label from the coke can flattened and hammered onto the top. Roxas fell asleep thinking about filling it with seashells, movie ticket stubs, and snapshots of a life shared with Axel. 


End file.
